MI High - Always and Forever
by SupernaturalRuinedMyLife
Summary: Rose, Oscar and Carrie have graduated to full MI9 agents. Now, they are working against KORPS rather than SKUL. Already greatly respected throughout MI9, everything seems perfect. But then a mission goes wrong and one of them starts getting attacked on two fronts - past and present. Sequel to the Deep Cover Mission.
1. Chapter 1

**So **here it is! This is the sequel to MI High - The Deep Cover Mission, and although it can also be read on it's own it will make more sense if you read the other one first. My life is very busy right now so updates will be further apart than I would otherwise like, but I'll do my best. Hope everyone enjoys!  
>Please review!<br>**I don't own MI High.**

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><p>"Rose, do you have the code yet?" The young girl furiously typed away on the keyboard, lines of text scrolling past her eyes.<p>

"And...got it! Sending it to your spypod," she said into her headpiece, sending the 10-digit code along the secure line. Then she watched on screen what was going on though the camera attached to the field agents' headpieces.

"We're in," the agent announced, rather unnecessarily seeing as both Rose and Stella could clearly see that on their screens.

"Proceed with caution," Stella ordered. "We don't know how many agents..."

"Actually we do," said Rose, bringing up the map of the building on her screen. "Six straight ahead. From there I can guide you through to the vault." Stella looked over the screens at the 17-year-old, impressed.

"I have to say, this new technology is working wonders," she said, covering her mouthpiece so that only Rose could hear her. The Girl - which was how everyone referred to MI9's youngest full agent - smiled quietly. The technology had been developed by her in a major part, and she was very proud of it. Then she caught sight of something on her screen.

"Agents! Six more, approaching down the corridor on the left, about 10 metres ahead." The agents all sprinted down the hall towards the turn-off, and as soon as the KORPS agents had turned the corner they took them by surprise, felling all of them without a problem.

"Directions?" came the request down the headpiece. Rose turned to the interactive blueprint on her screen.

"Down the staircase in front of you, turn left. At the end of the corridor is a reinforced titanium door with a thumb scanner and 10 digit code. It'll be open by the time you're there. Some day, Stella," she directed at her senior agent, "some day they're going to make this hard for me." Rose then quickly hacked the mainframe and overrode the scanner, before remotely entering the code. Just as she had promised, by the time the agents got to the door it had swung open in front of them. "OK, now take the next right, right again and down the stairs. There's a group of four around the corner, be careful," she said.

Stella stared at The Girl in amazement. Seventeen, she had to remind herself. Only seventeen and this girl was already one of MI9's top agents, specialising in the technical and research fields. As she continued guiding the assault team through the building, Stella thought about the shy and quiet Rose she had been told about and compared her to the confident and smart girl in front of her. Frank had said that it was all to do with moving out from her father's house and in with Agent Cole, who she apparently trusted implicitly. Something about a deep-cover mission, was what she could remember.

"Okay, you're at the vault door. You're going to have to give me access to the keypad," Rose said. Understanding, one of the agents pulled the front off the keypad and scanned the inner workings with their spypod. "Let's go," Rose muttered to herself. "Oh, by the way, three coming on the left hand side," as the agents quickly dispatched of the KORPS crew. One minute later, "You're in!" she exclaimed, just as the door beeped and swung open. "You need to move fast, KORPS reinforcements will be arriving in 10 minutes, you need to be out by then." Affirmatives came from the assault team and they quickly began packing up the complex machine in the vault into separate bags. Three minutes later, and Rose was guiding them out of the building, and they all jumped into the waiting van. "Yes! Mission successful at 12.48, just in time for lunch."

"Well done, Rose," congratulated Stella. She wasn't on first-name terms with many agents, but she and Rose had been working closely for a while now, and even though Rose was a lower rank than her and a lot younger, Stella thought of her as a close friend. "Are you going out for lunch?"

"No," Rose replied, as she closed windows on her computer and logged off. "Oscar's away in Miami with Carrie on a mission, so I'll be in the cafeteria if anything urgent comes up."

"Miami? Alright for some," Stella laughed. Rose giggled too.

"Yeah, they wouldn't tell me what they were doing there but the weather has to be nicer than here." The rain was pounding down outside. "Well, I'm off, I said that I'd drop by Poppy's office and pick up some problem that needs solving."

"What would we do without you, Rose," Stella said, shaking her head as Rose picked up her bag and left the control room. "How we survived before you I really don't know."

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><p>What do you think? Alright so far? Review please, tell me if you think it is an ok sequel!<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

Originally there was a different Chapter 2 that I was about to publish, but then someone PMed me this idea and I wanted to put it in. So in this chapter we are jumping to Miami with Oscar and Carrie! Enjoy and review!  
><strong>I don't own MI High.<strong>

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><p><strong>T<strong>he last evil guy fell, knocked unconscious by the power of Carrie's karate. Dusting herself off as though she had not just defeated around 15 guy in one go, Carrie smiled at Oscar. "That was fun," she said. Oscar just raised one eyebrow. "Okay, yes, that was very fun," Carrie conceded. "I love smashing bad guys." This made them both laugh.

"Never grow up, Carrie," Oscar said. "Honestly, sometimes I think your mind stopped aging at 10." Carrie nodded.

"Probably. But anyway, they were the last ones. So I'll run and get the documents and you yell if anyone comes." Then she turned and sprinted down the dark corridor. Minutes later, she was back, with a yellow file stuffed with paper in her hand. "Right, let's go." Together they ran down two flights of stairs and into the waiting van that would take them to the Miami airport. Just as the van door slammed shut, Oscar felt a little strange. he recognised the feeling - it was the one he got whenever he and Carrie did a mission without Rose. She wasn't getting out into the field much, although she was still very capable, because Agent Knight viewed her as invaluable in the control and research aspect of missions. It was the feeling that something vital was missing. He kept waiting to see her laugh, to feel her head drop onto his shoulder. Carrie smiled knowingly at him from the other side of the van. "Oh, Oscar. You've got it bad." Oscar merely raised one eyebrow.

"Your business?" he asked, but not in a horrible way. The comfortable way that only the best of friends can talk to each other in, knowing that the other will understand completely.

"Yes," Carrie decided firmly. "You are my two best friends." Rolling his eyes at Carrie's enthusiasm - she had literally done cartwheels around HQ for 5 minutes when Rose and Oscar had emerged from the lift holding hands, squealing something along the lines of _About time too _- Oscar just let his head drop back onto the side of the van. "And I want to tell you for the 100th time that I think it is the most sweet thing I have ever seen. I honestly knew since the first month at St Hopes that this would happen eventually." Oscar just let Carrie talk on, letting his mind flashback to the day - three weeks after Daisy and Blane had made them both realise that their feelings were not unrequited - that they had finally made it official.

_"Oscar!" Rose shouted. "Look out, behind you!" Oscar spun around and saw seven SKUL goons running forwards. Two he managed to fell without much effort, but then the fight became tougher. The five remaining men surrounded him, making it hard to fight them all. He was struggling away, hearing Rose breathing heavily as she fought the three men that had advanced on her - she had always been viewed as a lesser threat - hoping desperately that she was alright. Suddenly he sensed, rather than saw, one of the men behind him fall. Spinning around he saw Rose, long black hair flying, fighting her way towards him. Seconds later and she was there. "Back-to-back," she gasped quickly. "Logical." Quickly Oscar spun around, his back to Rose's._

_Five minutes later and they were standing in the middle of the quiet street, ten SKUL agents lying on the floor around them. "That was mean. It was our weekend off," Rose announced, faking petulance. Oscar couldn't help but burst out laughing, even though he was out of breath and could feel bruises beginning to form in many different places. _

_"Yes, Rosie," he gasped. "That was very mean of them."_

_"Honestly, we could have been at the park already in the time that it took us to defeat them, and I was so looking forwards to it. And Daisy will kill me. We're meeting up tonight and she said that she expected my nails to be in good condition as she was going to paint them." Oscar could tell that the whole story was made up._

_"Course she will, Rosie." Rose then flopped down on the pavement, leaning back against the wall. _

_"Sit," she commanded. When Oscar did, she immediately put her head on his shoulder. It was so lucky, Oscar thought, that what Daisy and Blane had done hadn't damaged the close friendship that they had. "You're such a comfy pillow, Oscar," Rose had said. Carefully, on high alert for any signs of hesitation on Rose's part, Oscar laced his fingers with hers. There were no such signs, instead Rose gave his had a gentle squeeze. They sat like that for a few minutes before Oscar finally got up the courage to start talking._

_"Rosie..." he nervously began. There was a hum from Rose showing that she was listening. "Well...I'm...er...would you..."_

_"Oh just say it already," Rose mumbled. "I know the answer already." Oscar flushed. Of course she did. _

_"Sorry," he said, mortified. "I shouldn't have..."_

_"Idiot," came the calm response. "The answer was yes, obviously, and it took you long enough." Oscar didn't really believe what he was hearing. Twisting slightly so that he could look at the dark girl whose head was on his shoulder and whose hand was in his, he asked "Rosie? Are you sure you know what I was going to say?" Rose just giggled. _

_"You were going to ask me to be your girlfriend, correct?" Oscar flushed again and nodded. "Answer is still yes," she confirmed, lifting her head so that she could look at him properly. "Oscar, seriously, did you think I was going to say no?" Rose grinned up at him before letting her head drop back onto his chest._

"Oscar! Have you been listening to anything I've been saying?"

"Umm...no, sorry." Carrie just rolled her eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

Here's the second chapter! Read and review!  
><strong>I don't own MI High.<strong>

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><p>Rose sat at her table, munching on some pasta as she wrestled with the problem in front of her. Apparently it was something for the new project Poppy and her team were running about pre-Christian Druidic settlements. She allowed herself a moment to remember the MI High mission when an archaeologist had tauntingly asked her if she was an expert in it, and her shock when Rose had agreed that she was. <em>Never underestimate Rose Gupta, <em>she thought to herself, turning back to the stack of paper in front of her. _Right, so if Druid Beezel discovered_ that... she slipped back into the familiar work, paying little attention to the people around her. She didn't even look up when an agent asked her if he could sit next to her, absentmindedly nodding. But then she looked up sharply, to see someone she had thought to be in America smiling humorously at her.

"Hey there, Rosie," Oscar grinned. She smiled widely.

"Oscar! You're back early, aren't you? You've only been gone a week."

"Well, it was an easy mission," Oscar chuckled. "Carrie loved it, she got to karate-chop a load of bad guys." He reached out and linked his hand with Rose's. "Anyway, what's all this about? Couldn't come back too soon if every time I go away my girlfriend starts working through lunch!" Rose giggled when he called her his girlfriend. "Seriously, Rosie, you need to stop _sometimes,"_ he stressed.

"But I do," Rose teased, squeezing his hand. "At night." Oscar rolled his eyes and stole some of Rose's pasta.

"So, how many times have you saved the world already today?" he asked. Rose laughed as he brought back the memory of their last few minutes at MI High.

"Only once," she said.

"Only once! Rosie, you need to work harder," Oscar chuckled, stealing more pasta. Rose batted his hand away.

"Go and get your own food, greedy." Then she checked her watch. "Oh no, I'm going to be late. I'll see you outside at 5?" she emphasized it like a question, and Oscar nodded, before letting go of her hand and standing up with her. "See you then," she called over her shoulder as she made her way out of the cafeteria.

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><p>Stella pushed open the door to the lab to see Rose bent over one of the tables. she cleared her throat to announce her presence. "Hey Stella," Rose mumbled, not looking up from the table. Very few people could get away with addressing Stella like that, but she let it slide.<p>

"Bad time, Rose?" she asked. Just as she finished the question a large cloud of violently purple vapour issued from one of the experiments on the table in font of Rose.

"Nope, I'm done," Rose smiled, examining the result of the purple reaction. "Mission?"

Stella smiled. "Not exactly. How long will you be?"

"No time at all," Rose said, shrugging off her white lab coat and goggles. "In fact I can come right now."

"Good, follow me."

Stella pushed the door to the Control Room open and Rose gasped. **"Frank!"**

"Hello Rose," her old MI High supervisor smiled. "Someone grew up."

"What did you expect, that I'd stay the size of an 8 year old forever? Course I grew," Rose teased. "Why are you here? Wait...this is something to do with a new MI High team, isn't it!"

"Well done," Stella smiled at Frank. "It's good to see you, Frank." Then she turned to Rose. "As you've guessed, we're setting up a new MI High team. Not at St Hopes, but at a new school that has recently been re-names St Hearts. Mr Flately is still the headmaster and Frank has gone undercover as the caretaker again. But we were wondering if you would be up for going with him to scout for potential agents?" Rose smiled widely.

"I'd love to! When?"

"Well...how about right now?" Rose nodded enthusiastically. "Right, cover. You are going to visit Mr Flately. Just say that you were nearby and thought why not. Ask to have a look around the new school, keep your eyes open." Rose nodded again. "Let's go then! Oh, tell Oscar that you'll be a late for being outside at 5. We'll probably be back by around 6." Rolling her eyes at one downside of working with spies - everyone knowing everything about everyone - Rose quickly pulled out her phone.


	4. Chapter 4

Here's the next chapter, and some new characters! This came to me at 3 in the morning as I was unable to sleep, so forgive me if this isn't very well-written!  
><strong>I don't own MI High.<strong>

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><p><em>St Hopes, only blue<em>, was Rose's first thought when she entered the building. Everything looked very similar, but everywhere that had been red in St Hopes was blue in St Hearts. There was the same distinct atmosphere of disorder and slight chaos. She drew some curious looks from the students, dressed as she was in her work suit and carrying a black handbag even though she was the same age as some of the kids there. She grinned to herself. Her father would never have let her pull out of school at 16, but MI9 had offered even though she hadn't finished her education officially. And she loved doing things that she knew her father would have hated.

"Hello, can I help you?" came a bossy voice. Rose turned and saw a girl with mousy brown hair and a fringe, who was holding a clipboard made of titanium.

"Yes, please," Rose replied, taking careful note of everything to do with the girl, assessing her potentiality as an agent. "I'm here to see Mr Flately, would you show me where his office is?" The girl grinned. It had an edge of nastiness to it.

"Are you sure? You probably want Mr McNab, he's the one with all the power and influence." Rose smiled. That sounded just like Mrs King.

"No, thank you. I would like to see Mr Flately." Looking slightly put out, the girl agreed.

"Of course. My name's Melissa, I'm Student President."

"Nice to meet you, Melissa," Rose said. "Ah, this must be it. Thank you very much."

"No problem!"

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><p>Rose knocked on the door. It was yanked open by a dark-haired man in a suit. "Hello?" he said, "And who are you?"<p>

"Rose Patel," she replied. An 'oh' sound came from within the room.

"Rose!" she heard Mr Flately call. "Please do come in." Mr McNab frowned and left. "How are you, Rose?" Mr Flately asked. He looked just as tired and worn as he had at St Hopes. "You do look very smart, I must say, but why aren't you at school?

"I'm very well, thank you, Mr Flately. I just thought I'd come and say hello, I was in the area anyway. Didn't I tell you at St Hopes? I was offered a Government job, they said it didn't matter that I had not completed my education." Mr Flately looked very impressed. "How is it here? Different from St Hopes?"

"The food is nicer," was Mr Flately's only comment. "Would you like to look around? I must tell Mr McNab about your job, he'll be ever so impressed and you went to my last school, he can't say that I'm a rubbish teacher after that..." he trailed off, before rallying. "Well ,it is lovely to see you, Rose. You're very welcome to take a look around, although I'm afraid that I can't show you around - I'm rather busy, we've got several new pupils who arrived yesterday, it being the start of the school year and all," he looked down at a list on his desk, looking harassed.

"That's fine, Mr Flately," Rose smiled. "It's been lovely to see you, and I'll be absolutely fine to look around on my own." Mr Flately nodded, already disappearing back into the charts and lists in front of him.

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><p>Rose walked the corridors of St Hearts, looking for something, anything that was promising. Nothing so far but more nothing. She suddenly felt her phone buzz with an incoming call, so she moved to the side of the corridor and pressed the accept button. "How are you, Rosie?" Oscar said. "Do you want me to come over there?" Rose thought about it for a second.<p>

"Yes please, Oscar. I'm sure Stella wouldn't mind, you were MI High too. I'm at..."

"St Hearts," Oscar filled in, before rattling off the address. As a private joke he continued on, "London, England, United Kingdom, Europe, Earth, The Solar System..." Rose just laughed.

"Alright, alright, you know where it is. I get it. I'm going to find their base, see me down there?" Oscar assented before ringing off. Rose smiled to herself. Telling Oscar that she wanted to be his girlfriend had been the best thing to happen recently, and a lot of very good things had happened recently. He was so sweet and protective, and if some people couldn't help but be mean about the fact she was 17 and he was 19, then that was just sad for them because they obviously didn't understand how wonderful it was.

She decided that the Caretaker's Cupboard was the best place to start looking. Maybe they hadn't changed the entrance, even if it was a new location. Five minutes later she was standing outside it. The door, predictably, was locked. Not the sort of lock that could be picked, either. This was it. Which meant...

Rose pulled the light switch, and sure enough, there was a thumbprint scanner. She pressed hers to the screen, and a second later the door opened. Grinning at the familiar routine, Rose looked for the Apple Green paint, and pulled the mop that was beneath it.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5! Please review!  
><strong>I don't own MI High.<strong>

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><p><em>Whoosh.<em> The familiar plunge as the lift dropped forced a laugh out of Rose's throat as she had a moment of nostalgia, remembering all the times she had gone down in a lift very similar to this one. She felt her clothes change, but in a slightly different way - a beam of green light travelled up her body. It made the change much smoother, she noticed. Then the doors slid open and she let out a soft gasp of envy. "Frank!" she called, knowing that he would be down here somewhere. "Why didn't we get all this technology! Not fair!" There was a very familiar laugh from around the corner, and then Frank emerged.

"As you well know, Rose, most of this technology hadn't been invented when you were at MI High. In fact, you moving to MI9 was pretty essential in it being developed." Rose laughed too. It was true - most, if not all of this technology had been developed by her.

"Wish I'd invented it when I was at St Hopes," she said, turning on the plasma screen and bringing up the CCTV footage of the school. "It would have been _so_ useful."

"Well, the new team will undoubtedly find it useful too," Frank said, moving to stand next to her. "But now, to business. Seen any potential yet?" Rose shook her head thoughtfully.

"I don't think so. Tell me abut the Student President." Frank looked slightly worried.

"If we can possibly avoid having Melissa on the team I will be very glad. Apart from loving to boss people around more than Stark did before he finally lost his job, she is teacher's pet, gets very angry if she doesn't win every prize on offer and finds it impossible to keep a secret. Keep in mind that I already know this having been here two days." Rose smiled.

"Not a possibility then. Oh, by the way, Oscar's coming here too. He should be here in five minutes." Frank nodded. Then something caught Rose's eye on the CCTV. "Wait a second. That girl there, I've seen her before," she froze the screen, zoomed in on a dark-skinned girl and then pulled up an MI9 window. She quickly searched the database for the footage she was after, and finally pulled up a CCTV clip of a dark-skinned girl walking up the steps outside the Foreign Embassy, wearing an outfit very similar to that of an underpaid secretary. A switch of CCTV angles and the girl was inside, pulling off the jacket and revealing a smart shirt, changing her shoes into low high heels and pulling out her ponytail. Then she knocked on the door of the Foreign Minister's office. Rose pulled up the facial recognition software and ran it, comparing the St Hearts student to the girl outside the Minister's office.

MATCH, the machine read.

"Potential cover agent?" Frank asked. Rose nodded.

"I'll ask Oscar to take another look when he arrives, but if this is what she does in her spare time, she is a possibility." Frank smiled as he ran the CCTV and saw a tall, blond-haired teenager arriving outside the school gates. "Oh look," Rose said as she saw him too, "he's here. No doubt he'll be down here in a couple of minutes." Sure enough, Oscar started walking down the hallways with a purposeful step. All the pupils parted in front of his intimidating physical strength and height. "Now why don't they do that for **me?"** Rose pretended to whine. Frank just laughed.

"Because the side effect of being an MI9 prodigy at the age of 17 is that you are still the same age, if not a year younger than the kids here, whereas Oscar is a year older and looks it. Oh look," Oscar had found the cupboard and pulled back the switch. "Here he comes."

Sure enough, the doors opened in seconds and Oscar came out, also dressed in new spy gear. "Rosie, Frank," he greeted them both. Then he turned to Rose. "Didn't I ask you to tell me if you were going anywhere during the day?" His tone was teasing, but there was an undercurrent of worry too. Rose slipped her arm around his waist and stretched up, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

"It was all a bit sudden. And it's hardly as though there are going to be hostiles here, is it?" Oscar acknowledged her point.

"Seen any potentials yet?" Rose nodded and skipped forwards to the screen.

"Here. This girl. She was videoed last year getting in to meet the Foreign Minister by disguising herself very effectively." She ran the CCTV footage. "I wanted to ask you, because cover is your area of expertise." Oscar looked closely at the footage.

"She definitely has potential. What do you know about her, Frank?"

"Aneisha Jones. 16, middle of the class. That's all I know so far." Oscar nodded.

"Well, as long as Agent Knight doesn't object to me taking on this too, I guess Rosie and I will be here a few days? So tomorrow I'll keep an eye on her." Frank nodded and smiled. "I'm sure Rosie can scout for any impressive techies from our flat just as well as she can from here, and the kids are starting to eave now anyway. So we'll meet you here tomorrow?"

"Great. I'll let Stell...Agent Knight know that you'll be here instead of HQ, so you don't have to sign I there in the morning. See you tomorrow, Agents."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 is up! Please review!  
><strong>I don't own MI High.<strong>

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><p>Oscar and Rose made their way back to the flat they shared with Carrie. It was a useful part of working for MI9 - free accommodation - and they had worked together for so long that it had seemed the ideal setup, all of them sharing a gorgeous and spacious flat not far from HQ. There was enough room for each of them not only to have their own bedroom, but for a small science lab, exercise room, computer room stuffed with all the latest technology that Rose was working on, kitchen and living room. As soon as they got back that evening, Oscar headed into the exercise room to get the cramped plane feeling out of his blood, and Rose went to the computer room, as she started scouting for a potential tech agent that lived in the area. Technically they didn't have to already attend St Hearts - a transfer could be arranged easily enough - but living in the area, as well as being school age, was vital.<p>

As soon as she turned on the software that looked for unusual computer activity, she started getting strong signals from a house that was close to her current position and also close to St Hearts. She piggybacked the signal, finding that on 67 Limburg Street there was a computer bank to rival the one she had had back in St Hopes - it was not the absolute latest technology, but it was pretty close.

Rose quickly hacked into the computer's mainframe, running a password-cracking software and gaining access in two minutes. She sat back for a minute, impressed. Whoever these computers belonged to was very good. Normally it would take about seven seconds to hack into a civilian mainframe remotely, when variables such as the model of computer, active security software and details of usage were unknown.

Once she was in the computer, Rose scouted around, trawling through internet history, the installed software, anything that could be indicative of a potential agent. It was all promising. The owner had hacked into several Governmental security systems - Rose made a mental note to install the updates she had been working on as soon as possible, tomorrow preferably - and had designed several devices that had the potential to be useful. It was very unlikely, although not impossible, that this computer was owned by a school-age kid, Rose reminded herself as she felt her hopes rising. So yes, the amount of kids that did some advanced stuff on their computers was higher than the average adult - after all, adults were normally too caught up in their lives and jobs to indulge in this sort of thing in their spare time - but this stuff would make the owner the perfect agent if they were under 18.

Curiosity peaked, Rose hacked into the camera that was installed on one of the computers. This was slightly risky, as it meant that the computer would switch from being off to on standby, but hopefully the owner was not in the room.

Seconds later, Oscar came running in in response to the loud exclamation Rose had let out. Grinning and shaking his head as he saw that the intruders he had feared were nowhere to be seen and Rose was staring at a computer screen that looked as though there was a webcam link on it, a wide smile on her face. "I think I've got him, Oscar!" she exclaimed. "Look here."

"Will I understand this, Rosie?" Oscar asked warily. Often, when Rose wanted to show him something he was completely lost within five seconds.

"Sure you will. Look here. This has very promising computer activity, hacking into Governmental mainframes - which is more common than the Government care to realise - blueprints for devices that have potential...it even took me two minutes to get in." Oscar nodded slowly. "And it looks as though the owner is school age. Look on the wall - posters. Not something an adult would normally have. Now all we need to do is wait for the owner to turn up." Oscar nodded again.

"I'll be in the exercise room OK Rosie?" Rose nodded absentmindedly, already running more software programs on the computer. She heard Oscar turn and go out, and then the running machine started up again. "Well, what do we have here?" she asked herself as she found a password-protected, encrypted file that had some serious - for a civilian - security. Seconds later, the unencrypted version was scrolling down in front of her. "Planning to reprogram the Mars rover? Well if you're as young as I'm hoping you are, you will be just perfect."

Rose only had to wait a couple of minutes. Then, with the highly sensitive sound that the computer had on its camera, she heard a greeting from a woman - probably a mother - and a reply, before there were footsteps up the stairs and the door to the room swung open. And _yes!_ A boy, who looked around a year younger than Rose, with dark brown hair. He was wearing - _this was so lucky! - _the blue uniform of St Hearts, although it was smarter than the majority of the students'. He looked quite pale, a look that Rose was very familiar with - it was the look Oscar was constantly on the lookout for, that indicated too much time in front of the computer and too little time outside. The boy dropped his school rucksack on the bed and walked over to the computer bank. Rose smiled.

Perfect.

She watched as he sighed when he saw the blue light that indicated the computer was on standby. "Jazzie!" he called. "Why were you on my computer again?" A faint reply, that Rose couldn't quite make out, and the boy shook his head. "No, no, Tom, of course I wasn't on your computer," he muttered to himself sarcastically, imitating a little girl's voice. "It just turned on all by itself. Oh no, that's not right, one of the Government agencies has realised your plan for tomorrow and has hacked in to stop you. Because that's so much more likely." He snorted to himself, switching the computer off standby and running the file that Rose had been looking at only seconds ago. "Silly little sister. Anyway...Mars Rover, should be ready by tomorrow! This is exciting." Another call from downstairs. "I'm just coming! Ugh, just when I was getting started." Tom reached for the power switch and turned his computer off, cutting out Rose's view.

"Oscar!" she called. One minute later, the tall blond boy was standing next to her. "Got the perfect candidate. Already at St Hearts, first name Tom. I didn't get the second. He's planning on re-programming the Mars Rover to write his name on Mars tomorrow." Oscar nodded and pulled Rose out of the swivel chair.

"Good. Now that you've done that, you are going to come with me for a walk in the park."

"But Oscar, I've got _so _much to do. I need to update the Governmental security software, I need to keep working on my upgrade of the spypod, I need to finish solving this problem for Poppy, I need to..." but she was cut off by Oscar pressing his lips to hers. As always, she was powerless to resist him against this, and Rose felt herself melting into the strong arms around her.

"Shh. I said you're coming with me," he repeated, being completely unfair, Rose thought, by doing his trick of staring into her eyes so that she got utterly lost in the depths of his green ones. A full two minutes later she finally managed to tear her eyes away.

"Fine. I'll go and get my shoes." Oscar chuckled at his victory. He always won with Rosie.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7! Hopefully this will satisfy all the Roscar fans out there :). Please review!  
><strong>I don't own MI High.<strong>

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><p>The pair walked slowly through the park, the miserable day having turned, the clouds having fled and a blue sky that was in the process of turning orange replacing them. The rain had reinvigorated the landscape, making the colours of the park and sky seem more vivid, and there was a smell of wet soil and grass that refreshed and relaxed. Rose and Oscar were not the only people to be out making the most of the beautifully clear evening, but the park was just empty enough for it to be possible for them to feel as though they were in their own world, with only the other for company.<p>

Together, hands linked and gently swinging between them, they climbed up the large hill that dominated the landscape. By the time they reached the top, while neither of them were out of breath due to their high levels of fitness, the sky had fully announced that it was evening. The sunset was spectacular, with oranges, pinks and even reds making the lower half of the skyline a vibrant mix, while above it the sky darkened to a very deep blue. Rose and Oscar found a bench underneath a spreading tree on top of the hill, and together they sat watching the sun set over the London skyline.

By the time the last trace of orange had faded from the sky, the sky had darkened and a few stars were visible above their heads. The air had grown colder, Oscar's arm was around Rose's waist and her head was on his shoulder. Without the need for words, Oscar turned and faced the smaller girl. She turned her head so that she was facing him, and there was total trust in her coffee-brown eyes as she tilted her head upwards. Oscar's hands came around the back of her head and as their lips met, Oscar felt all the tension leave Rose's body as she put her arms around his shoulders.

After a while, Oscar pulled back. Hurt flashed across Rose's eyes for a second. Nobody else would have seen it, but Oscar knew her so well that nothing ever escaped him. "Hey, I thought that we might both need to breathe," he teased gently, pulling her closer to him. She laughed a little, embarrassed that he had seen her flitting thought of rejection. They sat for several more minutes in a happy silence, just enjoying the quiet park, the beautiful, slowly darkening skyline and each other's company. Then Rose shivered slightly, which broke the trance the evening had put on them both. "Come on Rosie, home time," Oscar said, standing up and offering his hand to Rose. She smiled up at him, pulling absentmindedly on her long hair as she stood. "Wasn't this better than sitting in front of a computer all evening?" Rose nodded, unable to deny that. "And now I'm going to race you to the bottom of the hill." He didn't say this as a question, instead taking off down the grass side of the steep hill.

He could hear Rose shouting behind him, and her footfalls down the hill. She was very close behind him pretty quickly, both of them running out of control down the steep slope. Breath came short and sharp, not because of fatigue but because of the thrill of the cool air whipping past. Both of them had lost any control they had over their speed, gravity and momentum doing most of the work as they both tried to keep their legs going fast enough that they wouldn't fall over. Oscar could hear Rose shouting with laughter behind him as the slope began to even out and they both had to keep running to slow themselves down.

"I win," he gasped when they both finally came to a halt, several metres from the bottom of the hill.

"What's the prize going to be?" Rose asked sarcastically, rolling her eyes. Oscar laughed and pulled her closer, so that they were standing as close as they possibly could, bodies feeling as though they were pressing into the same space and becoming one.

"I couldn't possibly guess," he said quietly, touching his forehead to hers so that they were both staring into each other's eyes. Rose giggled slightly.

"Let me give you an idea," she whispered, before reaching her arms around the back of his neck and bringing their lips together.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Rose and Oscar had to leave relatively early. Carrie found this very amusing, calling out from her bedroom comments insinuating how idiotic it was to face the day when bed was so warm and that the two were very unlucky. Rose took this for about ten minutes, and then Oscar saw her snap. She bounced up from the table and ran out of the room, across the hallway and into Carrie's bedroom. She left the door open, meaning that Oscar could both hear and see as she launched herself onto Carrie's bed, yanked the covers off and pulled her colleague and best friend out of bed. Carrie was squealing and complaining as the cool air hit her, used to the snuggly warmth of the duvet. "You meanie, Rosie," she said as she walked like a zombie into the kitchen and grabbed a plate, before pulling one of Oscar's pamcakes onto it. "I was enjoying bed." Rose laughed.<p>

"Don't keep winding me up if you want to stay in bed, Carrie!" Then she looked at her watch and gasped. "Oscar, we need to _leave, _we should have _been there_ five minutes ago, oh _no, _this is a _disaster..._" Oscar shot her 'A Look' and she took a deep breath. "I'm stressing out too much, aren't I. That is your 'you are stressing out too much about work' look." Oscar nodded and make a zipping motion with his hand, gesturing to the food still in front of him. Rose visibly collected herself, before sitting down again.

"Honestly, Rosie, you don't need to be half an hour early." Carrie grinned, pushing another pancake at Rose. "And even if you were late, Frank wouldn't mind." Oscar nodded and made an agreeing sound. "Oscar agrees with me." Rose just laughed.

"Well I can't disagree with the Captain, can I?" Although she had gotten over the fact that Oscar was appointed Captain in the Octopus mission before the mission had even officially ended, they still joked about it sometimes.

Five minutes later, Oscar and Rose left the flat and headed over to St Hearts. They were greeted by Frank at the gates, before he led them into the base. "I've done some research on Aneisha through the school records. It doesn't have anything much, apart from the fact that she was given detention two years ago for trying to get out of class by dressing as one of the repair people who were fixing a drain and slipping off." Oscar grinned.

"Sounds good."

"I found someone else," Rose said. "Tom. He is at this school, but I don't know his last name." Frank nodded.

"Luckily I know exactly who you are taking about. Tom Tupper. Tech, I'm guessing?" Rose confirmed this. "Well then, all we need is a combat agent!"

* * *

><p>And by the end of the day, they had one. Daniel Morgan. Now that the three potential agents had been chosen, it was time to call in the cavalry. Stella arrived at four with the team that would be bringing the kids in. Oscar and Rose were staying to give first-hand experience of the project. Frank was up in the school pretending to be a caretaker, and everyone was getting the new HQ ready for the new arrivals. Making an amazing first impression, Stella said, was vital.<p>

Four thirty and the action started. The team went out, and Rose was viewing the whole thing on the cameras inside the helmets of the team. She and Oscar watched as Aniesha tricked her way in to see Beyoncé, but was stopped before the door opened. They watched as Daniel caught some thugs who stole an old lady's handbag, only to be handcuffed by the people he had thought were going to congratulate him. And they saw Tom completing his re-programing just as the door opened and many guns were pointed at him.

"Alright, lights off, everyone in position! Rose, Cole, I want you upstairs, I'll send a message when you need to come down." Rose and Oscar nodded and left. They saw the three students being brought down the lift. Then Rose let out an annoyed gasp.

"Oscarrrrr, I want to go down nowww," she moaned. Chuckling at the petulance on her face, Oscar fiddled with his spypod.

"Shall we eavesdrop?" he asked. Rose's face lit up, reminding Oscar that she wasn't even through with her first stage of education yet, let alone really old enough for a full-time job. She still got excited over little things.

And it was so adorable.

He placed the whisper-sensitive upgrade on the door of the lift. It crackled once, and then they heard Stella talking.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8! Now I'm sorry that it is taking a while to get to the real action, but I needed to introduce Dan, Aneisha, Tom and Zoe. Please bear with me and review!  
><strong>I don't own MI High.<strong>

* * *

><p>"...Mars Rover?"<p>

"Busted," came a voice that was probably Tom.

"And Aneisha Jones. Spending all your time pretending to be other people."

"I'm far too busy to be arrested," came a girl's voice. Oscar chuckled as he heard Rose mutter something about how Aneisha would get on very well with Daisy.

"This isn't an arrest. This is a proposition. What do you know about British Intelligence?"

"What, like spies and stuff?" That was Aneisha.

"Yes. With your unique skills and our specialist training, we think that you can help us keep the country safe."

"Is this a windup?" That was Tom, sounding distinctly annoyed.

"No," came Stella's voice again. She was evidently loving this whole procedure. "This is MI9." There were 'wows' and 'cools' from the students, and Oscar could imagine the lights having come on. Then Frank came past them.

"Time for my grand entrance," he smiled at his old team, before heading down to meet his new one. The sound of the lift going down, and then - "Welcome to MI High."

"This is Frank London. He heads up a unit with the name MI High, that trains young students such as yourselves to be MI9 agents." Stella said. "I am Chief Agent Knight, and while you will be seeing me on occasion, it is Agent London who you will have most contact with."

"You're the caretaker!" Aneisha suddenly exclaimed. Frank laughed.

"Just like you won't be walking around St Hearts flashing MI9 badges at everyone you see, Aneisha, I need an excuse to be at St Hearts. This is the second school I have worked at, and you will be my second team. My old team have gone on to become highly valued MI9 agents. One of them is one of the most highly respected cover agents, another is head of physical training for new initiates and most of the technology that you see around you has been developed by the third." Rose and Oscar felt their spypods buzz and they nodded, before entering the lift and pulling the lever. Their civilian clothes changed into top-range spy gear, and when it pulled to a halt they strode out of the lift.

They created exactly the impression they had been aiming for. Tom, Dan and Aneisha looked thoroughly 'wowed'. "This is Rose Gupta and Oscar Cole," Frank introduced. The pair nodded at the three students. "They have helped select you, and are here to tell you about what being an MI High agent is like. You have one hour to make your decision. If you decide against accepting our offer, your memories will be wiped and you will have no recollection of this meeting." He then left, along with Stella and the other agents.

"So, what do you think?" Rose asked, smiling as she sat on the table in the middle of the room. "Pretty cool?"

"It's _amazing!"_ Tom said, looking around in awe.

"How come you're only, like, our age?" Aneisha asked Rose, who smiled.

"I was recruited into MI9 when I was 12. I spent 2 years working with one team, then another 3 with Oscar and Carrie. When they graduated to full agents, I was also offered a job as they felt I was ready for it. Now, what are your questions?"

"Tell us about what it's like, being spies," Dan said curiously. "Is it like all the movies?" Oscar laughed.

"Being a spy is a lot more than the movies tell you it is. There are the times when it is glamorous and exciting, such as the annual gala evening. But it is hard and dangerous work. We work to protect the country, and KORPS and SKUL - that's mainly who we fight - don't attack in ways that are safe to combat. Both Rose and I have come very close to death, far too close for comfort. Rose was actually dead for a few seconds, and I still don't understand how I survived being inside a building when it blew up. But I'm sure you remember the time when it was Arctic weather in the middle of summer?" They nodded. "Or when world-famous monuments were being destroyed with corrosive graffiti?" Another nod. "Or when there was a mass-hypnosis that meant you gave all your money away? Or when The Wasp was forcing everyone to become better-behaved? Well, it was MI High teams that stopped those from becoming worldwide catastrophes."

"I can tell you the stories of stopping all those villains another time, if it interests you. Oscar can tell you most of them. Being a spy is, at the risk of sounding clichéd, the best thing that has ever happened to me. I made the best friends of my life, met Oscar, and I get to save the world."

"It. Sounds. Amazing." Tom enthused. "But...I'm not very good at...physical stuff..."

"That's OK," Oscar broke in quickly. "We recruited you because of your technical abilities, and tech is managed a lot more effectively from HQ. There should rarely be an occasion when you are forced to go into the field. All MI High agents are given the option of withdrawing from a mission, or even the whole project, whenever they want, as well."

"Any more questions, or have you made your decisions?" Rose asked.

The three teenagers grinned.

"There was never a decision to be made," Aneisha said firmly. "I'm in."

"Yeah!"

"Me too."

"Great! I'll call Frank then."

* * *

><p>In the weeks and months that followed, Rose, Oscar and Carrie kept tabs on the new team. They were good friends with Frank, and were always interested in what the MI High team were doing. According to Frank, the new team was working well together already, and had gained a new member that everyone at MI9 had heard a lot about - V.9.5, or Zoe, as Frank called her. The existence of such a massive batch of clones was concerning MI9, and there was talk of sending agents out to try and find them all.<p>

But KORPS was keeping all three of them very busy, meaning that they had little time to speak to each other, let alone Frank. Carrie was on call all day every day for taking down KORPS operatives known to be good fighters. Oscar also had a lot of work to do, often going out into the field twice a day on separate missions. And Rose was nearly run off her feet, constantly directing missions, doing research into various problems in the fight against the Crime Minister and the Mastermind, trying to find ways of improving MI9's chances and developing new technology on top of that. Oscar and Carrie kept trying to get her to take a day off, or to relax a bit, but she seemed to think that she was the only person fighting KORPS and that she could never stop. "Even the Crime Minister will be getting some rest, Rosie," Oscar kept reminding her, but she always replied "But the Mastermind won't be," and she wouldn't listen at all when he reminded her that the Mastermind was a machine and didn't need rest in the same way that she did.

Which was why, when Agent Knight came to him and asked whether he would be up for a mission in which he would be working with Rose and Carrie instead of his new squad, Oscar agreed, hoping that it would be a mission that would mean Rose had to slow down. And when Agent Knight described what would be required, he smiled. Working with the new MI High team sounded fun. And they could meet General Flopsy for the first time properly!


	9. I'm Really Sorry

Hey everyone

So I'm really sorry a) that I haven't updated in so long and b) that this isn't a chapter but I needed to let you all know that my updates will unfortunately be a lot less common for a while. I'm having a lot of trouble in my personal life and am also currently a medical wreck (so far as that I have been off school for a month now and my parents are seriously considering starting homeschooling me permanently) but with all of the turbulence it hasn't been an easy time at all and I am having very little time to write. I will not be stopping updates altogether but they will be a lot less common.

Thank you for understanding, I really am so sorry about this and I will let you know when my life is back on track and updates will become regular again.

Sorry,

McFlyMIHighAddict

xxx


	10. Chapter 9

Hey everyone! I'm back! I'm sorry for the unexpectedly long wait for this chapter.  
>Just wanted to say thank you SO much to everyone who has supported me recently. Every single message and review means so much to me, it's impossible to explain. My medical and mental problems are far from gone, I often feel like I'm standing in the middle of a storm with no way out, and there is no end in sight, but I'll really do my best to update a bit more regularly now.<br>Once again, a _massive_ thanks to everyone who has given me even the tiniest bit of support. I'm not seeing either of my friends at the moment - I'm pretty much shut in my room with only family allowed in - so every friendly message makes a world of difference.

**I don't own MI High.**

* * *

><p>"This should be a relatively simple mission, however as always when KORPS is involved utmost caution is needed. MI High team, you must listen to everything Agents Cole, Stewart and Gupta tell you - remember that they are far more experienced. Tom, you'll stay here on comms. Your mission is to scope out this warehouse." Frank brought up a satellite picture of a run-down, abandoned-looking warehouse on the screen. "We've been tipped off that KORPS has something to do with it. Surveillance has seen only one man enter it in recent weeks, so we are thinking that the building might not be in regular use. However, as normal, KORPS could well have something up their sleeve. Be on guard."<p>

"One floor, right?" Oscar asked, and Frank nodded.

"And scanning shows nothing underground either."

"Well that makes it easier," Carrie sighed. "One floor. Place like that, we'll probably always be in shouting distance of at least one person."

"True. Off you go." Tom swung the wheeled chair out and sat at the desk, bringing up all of the screens he needed to monitor the mission from the base, while the six other spies headed out in the lift.

* * *

><p>"Got anything?" Zoe asked down her pencil. There were negative replies from all of the rest of the team. The warehouse had turned out to be abandoned on the inside as well as on the outside. Once they had got past the still relatively impressive security system, the spies had walked out into what seemed to just be rows upon rows upon rows of desks. No sinister machinery, or hidden rooms, or anything but what could easily be a normal office building if it wasn't for the sinister way that the desks stretched away as far as the eye could see in the relative darkness and the orange symbols heading the few papers that had been left behind. No computers or technology remained, only the occasional sheet of paper blank but for a KORPS heading, the desks, and the chairs occupying the cavernous space.<p>

"It looks like some sort of admin base that's been abandoned at least two years," Rose said into her communicator. "Keep looking, though, we don't want to miss anything." The spies all started moving again, although they were less on guard and more relaxed now that they had been in the warehouse five minutes and nothing had happened. Zoe and Dan moved closer until they were walking down the aisles next to each other.

"It's kind of intimidating, working with them," Zoe said for only Dan's ears. "They seem to know exactly what they're doing, I feel really inexperienced."

"Of course they know what they're doing," Dan said. "Those guys are MI9 legends! Once I leave school I want to do exactly what Carrie's doing now. Do you know that she saved London from a nuclear explosion in the centre with 10 seconds to spare by fighting her way through 10 KORPS agents in 2 minutes by herself? And she stopped the Crime Minister from launching an attack on the House of Lords and really nearly caught her too. And..."

"Alright, I get it!" Zoe laughed. "She's your hero!"

"No!" Dan immediately denied. "I mean...she's really amazing and incredible but...I guess she is my hero, actually. Have you heard some of the things that the three of them did when they were in MI High? It was at a different school then, St Hopes, but they still had Mr Flately and Frank."

"No," Zoe said, interested, pushing her ponytail over her shoulder.

"Well, once, they saved the country from a complete power failure, I don't know if you remember it..."

"I do!" Zoe said. "Everyone at SKUL was really angry, none of the machines were working properly, it was a nightmare for them!"

"Well, they saved that by..." Dan was about to embark on the story, but then his attention was caught. "Hey, Zoe, look." He pulled off the main aisle into the space in front of one of the desks. It looked the same as all the others on the surface, but there was one difference - a crisp white envelope, made of heavy, expensive paper sellotaped to the cheap wood. The envelope was addressed in a firm, steady hand to 'Rose'.

"Why is that there?" Zoe wondered. "Everyone! We've got something!" All the other spies started to make their way towards where Zoe and Dan were. Within two minutes they were all standing around the desk. Rose looked just as confused as all of the others. Aneisha went to pick the envelope up, but was stopped by Oscar's hand on her shoulder.

"Wait," he cautioned. "Anything could be in it. Tom, could you scan this?" He held his spypod in front of the envelope as Aneisha looked embarrassedly at the floor for her error.

"Sure," Tom said, and they all could hear the clacking of the keyboard as he ran a computer program. Several seconds later - "It looks safe, no hostiles or unusual chemicals," he said, and then Oscar picked the envelope up, smiling in a friendly way at Aneisha as if to say that he didn't mind her mistake. He turned the envelope over in his hands several times before handing it to Rose, who stared at the front of it for a long while.

"Oh no," she moaned. "No, no, no."

"What is it, Rose?" Zoe asked, wondering if it was something that she should have caught. But looking at Oscar and Carrie, they both seemed just as confused.

"I know the writing," she moaned, hiding her face quickly in Oscar's shoulder before pulling herself together. All the younger spies were thrown to see such a moment of weakness from one of MI9's top spies. "Tom, get into the surveillance of the MI9 prisons, Cell 92, tell me what you see."

"Oh god, Rosie, it isn't..." Oscar began.

"I'd know his writing anywhere," Rose said. "Have you got it yet, Tom?"

"Nearly..." Tom's hands were flying over the keyboard, entering lines and lines of code. Finally... "Access Granted!" he punched the air before searching for Cell 92. "Alright, there's a man in there, looks about 40, dark skin, sitting on the bed, reading a book."

"Which book? Can you get the title?" Tom enlarged the picture and zoomed in.

"A Brief History of Time," he read off. "Stephen Hawkins, I think?"

"No!" Rose was angry now, slamming her hand on the desk and striding quickly towards the exit. Everyone else hurried after her, Dan, Zoe and Aneisha totally confused. "He was reading that a week ago, he never re-reads books, he finished Mendeleev in a week and that's about twice the length, no, no, NO!"

"Rosie, calm down," Oscar caught her hand in his. "You've got to calm down. Deep breaths."

"HOW CAN I CALM DOWN?" Rose shouted, and everyone but Oscar cowered backwards. "THEY PROMISED ME!"

"I know, but right now we've got to focus..." Rose took several deep breaths, clenching and unclenching her fists, before she nodded slowly.

"Okay. I've got this under control. We need to get back to base." The three older spies were on their way when Aneisha called out.

"Aren't you going to tell us..." They all halted. Oscar and Carrie looked apologetic, Rose looked as though she was barely holding a lid on her anger.

"Sorry, that was so not thoughtful," Carrie apologised. "Can I, Rose?" Rose nodded tightly. The younger spies moved closer. "Basically, the short version, the man in 92 is Rose's dad, he was imprisoned a few years ago for what he did to Rose, and it looks as though he's escaped and MI9 didn't notice."

"Oh." Dan's response was far from adequate, but it was all he could think of.

"Oh is about right," Rose said. "Now can we please go back to base?" The MI High team nodded. All of them were giving Rose's behaviour leeway because it was clearly a very touchy subject with her, but at the same time they were starting to re-evaluate their first opinions of her as a very friendly, nice, relatively quiet member of the team.

* * *

><p>As soon as they all exited the lift, Rose ran over to Frank and launched into a hug that Frank freely gave. "How?" she mumbled against his chest. "Just - how?"<p>

"He looped the feed," Tom said. "Looped the feed on the cell door."

"I know that, I guessed that. I was asking how I'm going to get through this mission," Rose said and her voice was weak with the faintest trace of a tremor.

"You don't have to," Oscar said, moving forwards and rubbing soothing circles on Rose's back. Dan, Zoe, Aneisha and Tom all grouped awkwardly together, not knowing what to do or say.

"Course I do," Rose said, pulling back and roughly wiping her eyes. "I have never yet opted out of a mission, Oscar Cole, and I do not intend to now." As she spoke, she seemed to be pulling a façade over herself, hiding the terror and hurt that had been visible for a few minutes.

"We'll be right beside you," Carrie offered, holding her hand out. Rose took it and squeezed, smiling at her best friend.

"I know you will. And guys?" She turned to the teenagers. "I'm really sorry. I don't often flip out. Really. I just...hate my dad for doing this." All of them rushed to say that they didn't mind at all, completely understood, that Rose shouldn't worry at all. "Thanks. Let's get this show on the road, then!"

She walked over to the circular table, pulled up a chair, and slit open the envelope.

* * *

><p>Review!<br>And thanks once again to everyone.


	11. Chapter 10

I don't own MI High.

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><p>Rose slit open the envelope and slid the thick card out of it. She took a deep breath before turning it over and reading the handwriting that covered one side of the creamy, expensive card.<p>

_**Rose, my darling. Congratulations on finding the second clue. I knew that you would be able to do it, just as I knew that it wouldn't be long before you returned to the house. Now, before I give instructions to the third clue, you must know that you cannot be accepted by KORPS if you have continued on any association with either Oscar Cole or Carrie Stewart after they took me from you all those years ago. If you have, then your hunt must end here. If you haven't, then keep reading.  
>You might remember - in fact, I am sure that you do - the library in which you spent so much of your time when you were small. I am sure you remember your favourite book at the time I am referring to. Well, my darling, your next clue is in that book, in that library. If you still want the acceptance and appreciation that KORPS alone is able to give you, then we will see each other very soon. If not, I would be surprised at how little I know my daughter.<strong>_

Once she had finished reading the note aloud, she threw it on the table contempuously. "So. He wants me to join KORPS. Not surprising, really, knowing him, I just can't believe I didn't realise sooner."

"Hey, no blaming youself," Oscar said. "Well, surely all that we need to do is follow these clues. Hopefully they'll lead us to your Dad, and then we can lock him up again."

"That does seem to be the best course of action currently," Stella said. "But KORPS... utmost caution is needed. And if the MI High team are alright with it, I would appreciate if they would stay on this mission as well - seven is better than three, after all." Dan, Tom, Aneisha and Zoe all nodded eagerly. Working with MI9 legends and hopefully recapturing a devious KORPS member sounded like a no-brainer.

"If that's sorted, then - I think it's time for a school trip. Rose, what was the name of the library your father was referring to?"

"Marstone Public Library. It's about an hour's drive. And school could be going because...they're going to be having a talk from the head librarian, who specialises in Kantian Philosophy, to complement their RS work."

"Great. Tom, if you would work with Rose to get the necessary documents. Dan, Zoe, Aneisha, go back to class and make sure you act surprised when a school trip is announced. I'll call a coach," Stella was in full commanding mode. "Frank, why don't you introduce Oscar and Carrie to Mr McNab - who is going to have to take them, we don't want Flately getting in the way because he knows these three - he's going to be called away on urgent business for the Department of Education. Rose -"

"Got it. The Department of Education are taking a survey of several headmasters of schools who are known for...encouraging the students' freedom and would like him to take part."

"Perfect. Alright people, let's get moving!"

* * *

><p>After Stella, Frank, Oscar, Carrie, Dan, Zoe and Aneisha had all crammed into the lift and left, Rose and Tom fired up the computers and began writing the fake documents that would show that this school trip had, in fact, been planned for several months now. Tom was still slightly in awe, not fully able to believe that he was working on the same mission, in the same room, as the girl who had joined MI9 full-time before she had even left school officially.<p>

Rose found this quite funny. She knew that there were many people in the spying world who thought that she was a legend - however much even thinking that made blood rush to her cheeks - but had always been working far too hard to ever actually have contact with them. It was as though they didn't _really _exist, but were just a concept that Stella talked about on occasion and who looked at her in the dining hall.

"I'm really not that intimidating, you know," she said after sevral minutes, when the tension had built to an almost unbearable level. "I'm a person like everyone else, only a year older than you."

"And that's part of the problem!" Tom said, at the same time feeling a little easier talking to her. Rose was so clearly friendly. "One year older than me! How on Earth am I meant to not think you're amazing when you've been working for MI9 since you were 12?"

"I had good teammates," Rose said, glancing over at him. "Daisy and Blane. They...made sure I knew what I was doing." Tom wasn't very good at reading people - computers were far easier - but he did think that there was a little bit of discomfort when she said that. He didn't read anything into it though.

"Well, still. You were recruited for a reason."

"So were you." And to that, Tom couldn't argue, so they lapsed back into silence, albeit a much more comfortable one than before.

Five minutes passed with just the clack of keyboards to fill the air.

Then - "I bet I could beat you on Blade Quest," Rose said, mischeiviously glancing over at Tom.

"What?"

"Blade Quest. You _do _play Blade Quest, don't you?" So maybe Rose was cheating just a little bit in becoming friends with Tom - hacking into his computer to find out what games he liked playing wasn't really an option for most people trying to make a new friend - but she didn't feel guilty.

"Course I play Blade Quest? You do too?"

"Tom, I'm a _legend _at Blade Quest."

"Bet you're not as good as me."

"Bet I am."

"Not."

"We've probably got enough time to test that, you know, before someone comes back down."

"You're on."

* * *

><p>So when Stella came back down to HQ, it was to find Rose and Tom laughing and shouting as they fought - virtually - on the edge of a cliff. Both of them spun around guiltily when they heard the lift doors.<p>

"Um, hey, Stella," Rose said, smiling in an awkward way. "Um, we were just..."

"Playing instead of working on the mission?" Stella was going for stern and reprimanding, but it came out very wrong and just sounded amused.

"Well you see, we'd finished, and because the coach wasn't due for half an hour..."

"You've finished?"

"Yeah!" Rose waved a blue plastic folder with several sheets of paper in it. "Done and dusted, _and _Flately's emailed the 'Department' to say that he's on his way. he left five minutes ago. _And..."_ Rose said in a way that had Stella wanting to run for cover becuase it meant that rose had an absolute tiebreaker in her hands adn was about to play it, "You and Frank are going to the theatre tonight, 7.30, to see Matilda."

"Rose, what?"

"Come on, I know you've wanted to see it for ages. And you're not working tonight anyway, and I didn't want you going on your own so I thought you could go with Frank." Stella was silent for a moment. Then she couldn't help but laugh.

"Rose, I swear, it is almost definitely against the rules to play your superior like that.

"Hey, you're not going to fire me," Rose said, turning the screen with Blade Quest off. "Let's call it a tie, Tom. But I want a rematch once the mission's over."

"I so beat you."

"Did not. The only person who can beat me is Carrie and she does that by tickling me when I don't expect it and then pushing me off the cliff when I'm trying not to suffocate."

Tom was, in all honesty, surprised that Rose was able to get out of trouble with Stella so easily. he knew that they worked closely together, but he hadn't expected it to be so closely that Rose could get away with playing video games during a mission and basically setting Stella and Frank up for a date (however much they were meant for each other adn it was about time they realised it already).

"I came down to say that the coach was early and we're leaving now. So get your stuff, gadgets, whatever." Stella left again, shaking her head amusedly.

_"I so beat you,"_ Rose whispered as the pair of them exited the lift.

_"Did not."_

_"End of the mission, we're playing again. My place. We've got virtual reality suits."_

_"Awesome. You're on."_

* * *

><p>I have to say that my most favourite part of this chapter is Rose and Tom becoming friends, because anyone can see that they were just meant to be best friends.<br>So, I'm sorry it's taken so long to post this chapter.  
>I'm afraid I can't promise to be any more punctual with the nex tone, but I'll do my best.<br>Please review! It makes me happy :)


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